Federal Tax Alert - June 2015

The U.S. Supreme Court has handed down two much-anticipated decisions: one on the Affordable Care Act’s key provision, the Code Sec. 36B premium assistance tax credit; and another on same-sex marriage nationwide. In King v Burwell, SCt, June 25, 2015 (2015-1 ustc ¶50,356), the Court ruled 6 to 3 that the Code Sec. 36B credit is available to enrollees in both federally-facilitated and state-run Exchanges (currently commonly referred to as Marketplaces). In Obergefell v. Hodges, SCt, June 26, 2015 (2015-1 ustc ¶50,357), the Court ruled 5 to 4 that the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when a marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out of state. Both decisions have far-reaching tax consequences.